Good morning,
While wrapping some rubbish in an old newspaper (Sydney Morning Herald,
March 26-27, 2016, p. 21), I noticed the following paragraph referring to
some previous piece (which I don't have, but the context is clear). The
piece comes from a section called "Column 8", and is generally occupied by
quirky stories or paragraphs:
"Regarding Sam Goldwyn's 60th birthday sundial ... I've heard a story that
instead of the sundial being inscribed with 'Ars gratia artis' (Art for
art's sake - the MGM motto), it read 'Ars gratia pecuniare' (Art for money's
sake), and that apparently Goldwyn never noticed."
(http://www.smh.com.au/comment/column-8/column-8-20160325-gnr1wj.html)
There's a website devoted to the malapropisms attributed (rightly or
wrongly) to Goldwyn, including a statement about sundials:
Goldwyn walking in a garden. "What's that?" The gardener: "A sundial."
Goldwyn: "What's it for?" The gardener: "It tells time by the sun." Goldwyn:
"My God, what'll they think of next?"
http://www.cobbles.com/simpp_archive/goldwynisms_kanin.htm
However the compiler adds a note about it's authenticity: "Does anyone
believe that?"
None of this gets me any closer to Goldwyn's birthday dial and its motto. My
gut feeling is that anyone smart enough to run MGM for decades was surely
smart enough to recognise that 'Ars gratia pecuniare' is not quite the same
as 'Ars gratia artis', even if he couldn't read Latin. So I suspect that the
altered motto is probably an urban myth.
Can anyone confirm the motto on Goldwyn's dial?
Cheers, John
John Pickard
[email protected]
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